Archive for the ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ Category

We have many supporters who are not able to attend the party, but have chosen to make a pledge to help make this party happen. And for that, we are deeply honored and grateful. Please continue to spread the word amongst your family and friends so that we can all make a proper send off to Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth cycle of films.

For the rest of you, we have a party to plan, and you have travel arrangements to make, unless you are a local. Oscar weekend in Hollywood can be a bit stressful and expensive, so here are a few suggestions to make things easy for you.

First off, as of the date of this update, we don’t have the venue locked in simply because we need a funded budget in order to put the deposit down on the venue. That being said, the venues being looked at are very near each other and very near several hotels, so there is a hotel list coming up shortly.

Secondly, while it is recommended that you make your hotel reservations now, we would advise against anything requiring pre-payment, both in hotels or flights, until our goal is met and we know the party will happen. As much as we all want this party to happen, it can only do so if the budgeted goal is met, and we just don’t want you to risk your hard earned money on non-refundable travel purchases. So reserve a hotel, but think long and hard before booking non-refundable flights.

Thirdly, as the Travel Agent on staff, all the hotels and motels listed below I have either stayed in, toured, had friends stay in or I have met the sales representatives and can recommend these to you. They vary in prices, and even the normally budget conscious properties may seem a little high, just know that Oscar weekend is a high occupancy weekend in Hollywood and the pricing reflects the demand.

One Last Party fundraiser passes $100,000 mark!

Our One Last Party fundraiser on Indiegogo has just hit the $100K mark and we’re pretty stoked!

If you’d like to join us as a Party of Special Magnificence in Hollywood in February — a toast to all SIX Middle-earth movies, then now is the time to throw in your support! Even if you can’t make it to Hollywood (or if you’ve already contributed), you can help out by retweeting or sharing our fundraiser across social media to get the word out.

One Dragon, One Party menu signed by Dean O’Gorman, Craig Parker and Adam Brown

We ran a simple lottery for a nifty little prize in the form of a Menu from last year’s One Dragon, One Party signed by several cast members. The contest is now over and we have ourselves a very surprised and happy fan in Texas by the name of Susan H. The nice thing is, she does not have to wait to see if the campaign will be successful, she will be receiving this signed item in the next few days.

We have other really cool items already in the campaign, as well as new ones coming up to add to the campaign as either Perks for specific pledge levels, or other Lottery prizes. We may even do something extra special just for the Professor’s Birthday this weekend. And if you are unable to join us at the party, please don’t despair, we have now added a perk specifically for a Live Stream from the party.

Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party

We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a toast to all SIX movies, both LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit. We’ve hit and surpassed the 50% mark of our funding goal and there’s 18 days to go. Even if you can’t make it to Hollywood, there are still ways to help out if you’re keen, and some neat perks you can pick up too!

We at TheOneRing.net want you all to join us in saying a proper ‘Fond Farewell’ and heartfelt ‘Thank You’ to all the hard working Cast and Crew of all six of the Middle-earth films. There will be a giant ‘Thank You’ card at our planned “The One Last party: There and Back Again” event on February 21, 2015 in Hollywood. We’ve done this before, back at the Return of the One Party in 2004, so we know how to do big cards.

Now we know that not everyone can join us at ‘The One Last Party” so we have a special Perk on our Indiegogo campaign just for you. In fact, every single Perk level includes your name on the card, but we did create the lowest level Perk just for those who can’t attend, but would like to be included in this special ‘one of a kind’ Thank you greeting. The images here are from 2004, but they give you an idea of what to expect from this year’s Epic card. And for those who do attend the party, you will have the opportunity to personalize your greeting a little bit more at the party. This ‘Thank You’ card will either be given to, or sent down to New Zealand to be delivered to Peter Jackson.

For the past decade and a half, Peter Jackson, his amazing cast and the equally amazing crew have handcrafted these magnificent cinematic representations of Middle-earth for all of us to enjoy. Along the way, we have created a vibrant fan community where we can be found chatting on the message boards, meeting up at theater Line Parties, attending conventions together, making pilgrimages to New Zealand, and attending Oscar parties. We are a very social fandom who celebrates both the creative and academic side of Middle-earth, where you can find people displaying amazing costume designs right next to people who can recite and translate all of Tolkien’s Elvish poetry, and each can call the other ‘friend’. So while we want to thank Peter and the rest of the cast and crew for making films we can all enjoy, we especially want to thank them for the much more important Fan Community that has been thriving in big cities and tiny little towns all around the world since 2001.

Please join us in sending out our thanks by supporting our campaign for The One Last Party: There and Back Again, or sharing it far and wide with all your friends and family. Let’s all enjoy each other’s company #OneLastTime.

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Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party

We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a toast to all SIX movies, both LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit.

The marketing campaign of #OneLastTime for “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” might have been a little short-sighted as now that most readers of TheOneRing.net and other rabid Tolkien fans have seen the film (sorry Australia friends, paddle over to New Zealand) studios are probably thinking they should have gone with #OneDozenMoreTimes.

But the Sting can’t be too great, because the film is creating liquid gold that is flowing from consumers around the world. Rentrack, that tracks such things, shows that it has a robust domestic box office, so the little film from New Zealand has earned $90 million in Yankee coin. That is a more than solid five-day total and while it could have optimally earned closer to $100 million, that number is far from disappointing. In fact, the studios should use it to pour a floor like the one in Thorin’s hall of madness to, you know, impress the other studios.

The film has such white-hot, world-wide appeal however, that unlike some films that rely on U.S. consumers, this film hardly needs them in its march to $1 billion. Now, to be clear, that billion with a “B” sounds pretty nice but should the movie “only” make, say $900 million, all but inevitable now, that is still a pretty incredible figure. Our consumer brains like to hear the “B,” but the movie is a hit either way and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

Globally, it is on fire, doing great business in virtually every territory, sucking up a figure of $265 million since its open. Both the previous Hobbit movies earned more than $700 million internationally and this film is ahead of those in virtually every market. Domestic tracking would put it at $250 million plus for a conservative total of $950 million. My gut tells me the sentimental “last chance for Middle-earth in the theater” (you are welcome movie studio marketing departments) will give this film a little extra run. So the real question is: Will the Hobbit make more than the last Transformers movie? That shows at Boxofficemojo.com with a total of $1.08 billion. One of those two films is destined to be the biggest financially of the year. I generally dislike movie vs. movie comparisons, but I am both cheering for WB’s fantasy flick and against Michael Bay’s painful, loud snooze fest.

It is funny how big hits like “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and “The Lego Movie,” both fall well short of that $1 billion mark and are praised as giant successes — which they are. But, anybody remember some of the negative buzz with last year’s “Desolation of Smaug” being “disappointing?” It only made $958 million. Before that, some folks tried to say “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” was “doomed to failure” and then when it obviously wasn’t doomed or a failure, it was then termed as “not quite so bad, but still has no shot at $1 billion.”

First, that is just an arbitrary mark that looks good on a resume but it did cross that arbitrary mark despite the cries of “failure.” Bad buzz, even when it is fake, can hurt the box office. I got mad and wrote Death of ‘Hobbit’ at box office greatly exaggerated. I will not lie, punching holes in absurd journalism made it one of my favorite pieces I have ever put together for TORn. Also, it is relevant to how BOTFA is kicking some trash. So yeah, I had to link to it #OneLastTime.

Guardians will out-earn Hobbit in the U.S., but can’t touch it internationally. Marvel/Disney’s world-wide total will be approximately the same as Hobbit’s international-only money. Warners could have let everybody in the U.S. watch it for free and it would have earned the same as Guardians. #NotAFailure

The latest Hunger Games flick, “Mockingjay: Part 1,” is sitting around $640 million for its world total. Great numbers, but not Hobbit numbers. And Lego, as great a success as it is (and a great movie), isn’t half Hobbit 3’s final — even with Gandalf in it. In fact BOTFA is closing in on it fast.

BONUS TEASERS: While we are here, I will take a second to tease a pretty incredible Ian McKellen interview coming in the next day or so. That sounds immodest of me to say since it is my piece, but it is the journalist getting out of the way and letting Sir Ian talk. I really think it will connect with readers. He spoke at length about a lot of things including who else he thinks could have played Gandalf in The Hobbit films if he decided not to return. We also have some exclusive set photos of Peter Jackson coming in a day or two, one of which I included here in a small version. And if you haven’t heard, we are throwing a party! Details below.

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Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party

We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a toast to all SIX movies, both LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit.

We are proud to present the design of our Exclusive T-Shirt made specifically for everyone who supports our campaign to make The One Last Party a reality. The end product may look slightly different, current design features are being finessed, such as the final color of the shirt, the order to the costumed fans circling the bottom, etc. But ultimately this is the design that best demonstrates our fandom community and our desire to be together to say a fond farewell these six Middle-earth films.

This shirt design will not be made available to the public, the only way to receive it is to pledge at the Company of Dwarves level or above.

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Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party

We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a toast to all SIX movies, both LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit.

The Art of Film Magic – 20 Years of Weta delves into the incredible work of the folks at Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, and how they’ve built Weta into one of the world’s leaders when it comes to making movies amazing. If you been thinking about grabbing this two-book set, here’s your chance to add it to your collection.

We’re teaming up with our friends at HarperCollins to give away a copy. (more…)

Our friend and amazing artist Jerry Vanderstelt who as you all know has created so many superb pieces of Middle-earth will be starting a new line of prints capturing this world.

Fans will soon be able to start purchasing prints of the many landscapes we’ve seen in Peter Jackson’s films. The first print pending licensor approval will be capturing the beautiful place we all know as Rivendell. This is such a beautiful piece and looking at this picture you really do feel like you’re about to get an up close look at Rivendell. As soon as this goes up for sale in Jerry’s store we will let you know.

If you loved the drawing of Young Bilbo from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, then now is the time for you to finally add this to your collection. Young Bilbo is fantastically priced at just US$14.99 and is in-stock, so it will ship to your door right away.

As a part of Weta Workshop’s Advent Calendar this great little art print can now be added to our growing Middle-earth collectibles. You can also, if you haven’t already, enter their contest to win the King Thror on Throne statue, which would be one of the best Christmas presents you could win. Make sure you favorite the Advent Calendar as new items or contests will be announced daily!

Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party

We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a final toast to all SIX movies, both The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy.

We’re inviting you to join us and make it happen through our Indiegogo campaign — so we can all celebrate Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies together!

With all the holiday craziness that comes as we hit the holiday season you may have missed a brand-new item from our friends at Weta Workshop that went up for order on Black Friday. King Thror was one of the show stealers from Comic-Con this past July and now fans can add this to their collections.

The King is on sale through tomorrow night for a $50 discount taking him to $299, which is a great price for such a beautiful piece. If you wait and order him after Sunday at midnight then he goes back to his normal retail price of $349, and no matter the price you pay he is an in-stock item so you should have a King ready to show off when you have family/friends over for the Christmas. (more…)

MIRAMAR, NEW ZEALAND — In the final few weeks of filming for “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” a handful of journalists visited Peter Jackson’s set at Stone Street Studios near Wellington, New Zealand to do a final round of interviews during filming.

The invitation included TheOneRing.net. The pack of journos were given a lot of interviews in a short amount of time with the agreement with Warner Bros. to hold them until just before the final film. The veil is lifted and here is the interview, with minimal commentary. (Assume the less good questions aren’t from TORn!)

We met in the mess hall, empty except for us on a windy day. Pace is even more handsome in person than expected, dressed casually but smartly and he gave very thoughtful answers — as you will read — and appeared to be thinking while he spoke. In fact, at the time the interview seemed extraordinary, especially as he talked about his character. Some of these phrases could be engraved and hung somewhere. Reading through it more than a year later, I hope fans enjoy it as much as I do.

We were fresh from Weta Workshop, Academy Award winner Richard Taylor as well as interviewing Academy Award winner Dan Hennah and having a tour of the offices of the Art Department where we saw concept art and models and props of all kinds.

This site is maintained and updated by fans of The Lord of the Rings, and is in no way affiliated with Tolkien Enterprises or the Tolkien Estate. We in no way claim the artwork displayed to be our own. Copyrights and trademarks for the books, films, articles, and other promotional materials are held by their respective owners and their use is allowed under the fair use clause of the Copyright Law.